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Valkyura Warpschild
Valkyura Warpschild, once known as Valerie Wabsterviet, is the ferocious and psychically gifted Commander of the band of Chaos Space marines known as the Hellkin. Possessed of a keen intellect and wicked will, Valkyura has been a prodigy of the malefic arts since a young child, and has used this to further her own ends. Surrounded by her “Kinsmen”, Valkyura flings herself into battle, her mighty two handed Warp sword in her grasp, cutting a swathe through all before her, leading the charge even as minions of the Dark gods spring forth around her, brought unto the material plane by not only her prodigious skill, but the Daemons and spirits she has shackled to her will within her body. History Childhood The young Valerie Wabsterviet was the child of one of Gallahiez reigning lords, youngest of seven daughters and eleven sons. Valerie was far from the mind of her father or any of his wives, and was raised all but ignored by her family and deprived of friends in her cloistered home. Unbeknown to her family however, and even herself, Valerie was possessed of powerful psychic gifts, and Black ships would rarely pass to collect the tithe of psykers that were their designated harvest. Alone and isolated, it was not long before Valerie drew insular and withdrawn, turning to friends and companions of her own creation. These imaginary friends were at first, just that, creations of a lonely and unloved child in order to cope with the tedium of everyday life, but over time, the psychic beacon that was her mind, driven by her desire for connection and love, drew creatures to her that were all too real. The untrained and unknowing Valerie drew towards her psychic mind all myriad of warp entities, each seeking to feast upon her soul and use her mind as a gateway to the material realm. Unthinking, she toyed with these “imaginary” creations, answering the riddles of Horrors, listening to the caring stories of plaguebearers, dancing with daemonettes and screaming back and forth with howling bloodletters. Perturbed by this aberrant behaviour, her family distanced themselves ever further from their youngest daughter, and drove her ever more into the world of unreality. However, of all the fantastical creatures, beings and creations her psychically potent mind attracted, her favourite by far, was the entity known to Valerie as Jeztabel. Jeztabel, or Jezzie as Valerie referred to it as, was one of the earliest entities to reveal itself to Valerie, and the one most dear to the young, impressionable girl. Jeztabel spoke of the most amazing sights and places, and would play with Valerie for hours on end within her mind. Subtly, innocently, slowly, corrupting the young girl with the taint of chaos, and the seeds of heresy. Idyllic to Valerie this attention was, attention she had for so long been deprived, it was not to last. For other, less patient creatures of the warp were not content to slowly corrupt her to chaos, and wished a more direct, immediate route to violence and destruction. Khal’Varan, Herald of Khorne, sought to invade the young girls mind and possess her, the end result being the creation of a warp gate through which his legions could belch forth into the material plane. However, Khal’Varan had underestimated the sheer power of the girl's psychic abilities, and the ever so subtle machinations of Jeztabel. When Valerie opened her mind this time to the Warp, Khal’Varan struck, lancing himself deep into Valerie's subconscious, and seeking to tear apart her mind and subsume her body. However, what he found within her mind was very different to the defenceless child he had been expecting. Unbeknownst to him, Jeztabel, through a series of seemingly innocuous mind games and puzzles, had been secretly instructing the young girl on how to control her mind, and protect her subconscious. For what reasons the daemon did this are unknown, but the results were as unbreakable as adamantium. As Khal’Varan, tore onto her psychic plane, mental bulwarks slammed down around him, confining him as chains of thought and willpower flew free of the ground and bound him, writhing. It was at this time that Jeztabel, who had been observing from the immaterium, appeared. She swept around Valerie, inquiring as to why the girl wept at the pain and rage that swirled within her mind. Valerie explained the presence of Khal’Varan as best she could, and Jeztabel cooed and comforted the child, calming her fear and uncertainty. Jeztabel explained to Valerie what was inside her mind, and revealed to her the terrible danger she was in, coaxing her towards the outcome she had been working towards for so many years. Jeztabel convinced Valerie to allow her access into her mind, where she would help Valerie bind Khal’Varan within her, anchoring him in such a way that his power would be siphoned into her, making Valerie stronger even as it destroyed the Daemon within her. Valerie, trusting her friend, accepted, and allowed Jeztabel to freely enter her mind. It is often said that all Daemons are lies and falsehoods that their very lives and existences are nothing but a never ending stream of deceptions and betrayal. However, this is not necessarily true, for Daemons are incapable of acting outside of their nature, and are therefore, one of the truest forms of creature imaginable. They are exactly what they are, and never try or pretend to be any different. A part of this may indeed, be the compulsion to lie, but should even khorne himself command a bloodletter to be kind, it will be unable to do so, for such action is not in its nature. For whatever reason, Jeztabel, having gained unrestricted access to Valerie's mind, did not ravage her psyche, hollow out her soul and possess it for herself, but fulfilled her word. Khal’Varan was bound within Valerie, his essence broken open and poured out into the nubile young girl. The effect was as instantaneous as it was horrific. A sudden influx of potent, raw warp energy flooded through Valerie, and all around her, the immaterium began to pervade into the real world, the veil between the realms tearing and shredding, and those daemons that Valerie had entertained for so long within only her mind’s eye burst forth into reality. However, none turned upon the young girl in their midst, for the Warp distortion was not the only outcome of Khal’Varans sacrifice. Where Valerie had stood, a young girl pale of skin and red of hair, stood a creature borne of the union of daemon and mortal. Her hands were honed to cruel talons, and great curling horns rose from her forehead, twisted and sharp. From her back sprouted a pair of magnificent leathery wings, and upon her face her teeth turned to vicious fangs, while her eyes had filled with the inky darkness of the void. Slaughter reigned upon the world of Gallahiez, sacrificing her father, all seventeen of her siblings and every one of her father’s wives, she summoned forth a great cohort of daemons of every creed and devotion. Valerie, empowered by the energy of Khal’Varan, and guided by the voice of Jeztabel within her mind, marauded across her home world, slaughtering all and summoning forth more daemons with which to continue her endless orgy of destruction. Exactly how she managed to survive this, surrounded by warp creatures as she was, is unclear, but survive she did, even as greater daemons began to break forth from the veil and run rampant across the world. It was only the incursion of a Grey Knights Brotherhood that brought an end to her crusade. She wished to continue to rail against these new adversaries, but Jeztabel advised her against such a move. Now was the time to fall back, to retreat back to the warp, and regroup, to fight another day. So, retreat Valerie did, but not before correcting her lifelong friend, and now symbiotic partner, as to her name. From that day forward she was not Valerie, Valerie had been weak, and a child, she, would henceforth be known as Valkyura. Armour of Betrayal Valkyura, now fed by not only by the stolen essence of Khal’Varan, but by the symbiotic fusion of herself and Jeztabel, fled into the Warp, where her half-Daemon state afforded her the freedom to traverse its nightmare planes without hindrance. Urged on by the mysterious Jeztabel, Valkyura traveled towards the Eye of Terror, seeking out those who were likewise enlightened by the Dark Gods' revelation. The Warp however, is fickle to even its native life, and while scant months passed in the real world, Valkyura flew through those twisting, shifting realities for what seemed like a millennia. When she finally drifted into the Eye of Terror, she had learned much of chaos, the history of the Imperium and how to harness her dark gifts. However, possessed and gifted though she was, her status as a “human” and a “girl” led to few taking her seriously, often to their own, grisly end. However, she was not without allies, for as always the loyal Jeztabel whispered advice and aid within her mind, and it was not long until her abilities as a summoner and daemonologist were recognised by the Lords of Chaos, the Chaos Space Marines. Taken in by the Warband of the Briarblack Flame, its lord, Arkus Briar, saw the potential of the young Sorceress, and recruited her to act as his primary psyker and summoner. Although she resented taking orders from what she perceived as an inferior being, she played along with Arkus’s schemes, aiding him as he sought to bargain with the Daemon craftsmen of the forge of souls. Arkus desired a suit of armour made of the raw substance of the warp, that would render him all but impervious to mortal harm. The Craftsmen Arkus approached however, Duesades, demanded a high price for his work, and with his task in hand, and with Valkyura by his side, Arkus set off to conquer the Manufactory system of Polomius Sigma. Polomius Sigma had long been a strategically significant world to the Imperium, possessing as it did, a Forge world, two Mining world,s rich in resources and mineral deposits and an Agri-world which housed the systems main population centre. Polomius was so vital in fact, that it was protected by the Mechanicus Knightly House of Ophrobis, alongside the already present Skitarii forces. The Forge of Souls desired the system not only for its potent manufacturing facilities, but the rich deposits of raw ore and souls that it’s three other worlds possessed. The opportunity to reclaim and corrupt Imperial Knight Suits was also a prize most valued by the Forges craftsmen. Arkus however, was not nearly so influential and powerful as his inflated ego believed, and it was not long before he had come up woefully short on the number of troops that would be required for such an invasion. Furious, but too proud to admit defeat and go back on his word to the Forge of Souls, he conspired with Valkyura to bring more aetheric allies to his cause. Now was the time for Valkyura to make her move, for unbeknownst to Arkus, Valkyura had already been in converse with the creatures of the Warp, and had made her own deals and alliances, for even a minor lord such as Arkus, was not without enemies. Those Daemons that Arkus had displeased, were all too willing to agree to serve under Valkyura temporarily, in return for passage to the material realm, and the chance to seek their revenge upon Arkus. So it was that when the chaos Lord approached Valkyura, she was all too pleased to appease her lieges desires. The most dangerous and difficult world to conquer in the Polomius system would easily be the Forge World of Polomius Secundus, so it was here that the first attack would be placed. However, an invasion of the world directly could only end in defeat, as the powerful anti-air defence batteries and heavily armed ground forces would make all-out war impossible to win. However, the mining worlds of Polomius Prime and Polomius Quartus were vastly less well defended, and in that was the Forge worlds greatest weakness. Immense shipments of raw ore and minerals were shipped back and forth between the three planets, and unlike Polomius Secundae, they were vastly more susceptible to infiltration and subterfuge. Valkyura suggested a plan in which herself and a small contingent of Arkus’s most loyal followers would stow away on one of these shipments, allowing them easy access to the heart of the Mechanicum Forge world. Once inside, Valkyura would release a Warp-born computer virus and scramble the Forge Worlds systems. Once this was done, Valkyura would summon forth daemons and Arkus himself, along with the rest of his warband, and the fight for the Forge world would begin in earnest. However, even as the plan unfolded without a hitch, Arkus was oblivious to the fact he had been betrayed. When Arkus and stepped through the daemonic portal and onto the hard, steel ground of Polomius Secundae, he was met with a grisly sight. His Chosen, his honoured and most loyal followers, had been slaughtered and sacrificed to a man, their blood forming intricate, twisting and contorting glyphs and symbols that glowed with an eery, unearthly light. At its centre, stood Valkyura, a broad, unnatural grin spread across too many long, needle like teeth. Behind her stood the towering form of a Lord of Change, its oblong, crescent-moon shaped head fixed in a rictus grin as malevolent as Valkyura's own. The Daemons name was Txix’Levar, a Daemon Arkus had once scorned and insulted by siding with another, whom Arkus thought offered a better bargain. Txix’Levar did not take kindly to being slighted so. With a sickening crack of Warp Lightning, Arkus’s body froze mid-retreat, and paused in suspended animation. Txix’Levar gently scooped up his prize, and deposited the unfortunate Chaos lord within the folds of his robe. The Daemon turned and nodded to Valkyura, her end of the bargain had been honoured, and he would honour his. Valkyura turned the assembled marines who had served Arkus, and spoke loud and true, her conviction without pause or doubt. “You have before you a choice, submit to me, and swear binding oaths of fealty and servitude, and you shall live, elevated to power beyond your wildest dreams and blessed with a future Arkus never could have been able to provide. Choose to resist, however, and I will ensure that you will wallow in a fate worse than death for all of eternity, your soul tortured and enslaved for all of time. Just like Arkus. Make your choice, and make it swiftly. I have a Planet to enslave.” Those few who were brave or stupid enough to resist indeed suffered the same fate as their former lord. Frozen in time and delicately plucked from the ground by Txix’Levar, and deposited lightly into his endlessly deep cloak, more additions to his collection. Those who submitted to Valkyura bent knee, and swore binding oaths of servitude and fealty, however, this was but the first test they would have to pass in order to be considered worthy of joining her side. With the assistance of Txix’Levar, Valkyura selected Daemon and Marine that were akin in character and affinity, and bound them as one, there in the bowels of the Forge world Polomius Secundae. Not all survived the process, but those who did, swelled with the power Valkyura had bestowed upon them and eagerly joined her side. Here she embraced them as true brothers, true kin to her, a fusion of mortal and daemon, just as she was. This process now complete, Valkyura ascended to her Daemonic form, and led her new kinsmen, her Hellkin, to rampant slaughter and defilement through the Forgeworld. With Txix’Levar by her side, the pair of them summoning forth great swathes of daemonic forces to bolster those already present, and as the gap in the veil grew wider and wider, even the very forge world itself began to mutate and turn upon its former masters. Daemonic engines burst to life and warp borne cogitator viruses sent Skitarii maniples insane and rabid, turning on one another in furious orgies of blood and oil. Even the Knights of House Ophrobis were unable to stand up to the relentless assault of not just the daemons that crawled upon their hulls but the foul corruption that seeped into their systems. The Forgeworld fell in a matter of weeks, and the rest of the system, unprepared for the mechanised assault of the corrupted forge world fell shortly after. Valkyura invoked sorcerous energies that ripped through the fabric of reality and blurred the duality of the system and the Forge of souls. Billions died as the warp became one with their homes and their souls were dragged into the great burning furnaces of the forge, their eternal screams echoing amongst the great black chimneys of hellish manufactory. Valkyura had fulfilled the bargain struck by Arkus, and in turn reaped the reward that it bestowed. The armour flowed and morphed over Valkyuras body, moulding itself to her form, fusing to her flesh and melding with her soul. Such a boon would be a blessing to any lord of chaos, but to the half-daemon Valkyura, it was far more. The raw daemonic essence that roiled within her pulsed and fuelled the armours dark powers and as it melded with not only her, but Jeztabel, it shifted and reformed, somehow, enhanced, by the etheric energies within her. Left with only the suits helmet unbound to her form, she stalked from the Forge of souls, and her band of Possessed Marines followed behind her, followed behind their Mistress. A Blade Fit For A Goddess Valkyura had attained her prize, the precious warpforged plate of the forge of souls, and the warband of possessed Space marines which followed her. Where once their loyalty had lain with the Chaos lord Arkus, now, bound with dark pacts and enlightened by their union with the warp, they served only Valkyura, and followed her orders with a savage glee, ever eager to please their dark mistress. Now armoured and served, Valkyura had but one last necessity for her to be ready to begin war upon the Imperium, a weapon, one worthy of her stature. She judged no Smith, ethereal or otherwise in that day and age would be worthy, or talented enough, for such a task. Leading her small warband of possessed, she disappeared into myriad realms of the Eye of Terror, searching for a weapon of legend, one that would be worthy of her hand. In such a pursuit her travels took her far and wide, courting the tales of explorers and historians, listening to veiled metaphors and hidden half-truths of ancient Warp Lords, and interrogating xenos, man and daemon alike for even the thinnest scrap of truth. Exactly how long this quest carried on for is uncertain, as time in the warp is inscrutable at the best of times, and yet seems to bend itself even further around the abomination of nature and warp that is Valkyura and her kinsmen. Some say she spent thousands of years tracking down her prize, others claim a matter of stellar months, all that is known for sure is she eventually tracked down that which she desired. However, so had another. Inquisitor Lord Howard Faukan had long searched for an eldritch sword known to him as the Soul Sword, an chaotic artefact of terrible and potent power, which could extinguish the very soul of those slain by its edge. Valkyura however knew it by a different, much older name, Draukoth, the Blade of the final Desecration. However, a purely chaotic artefact, Draukoth was not. Allegedly, in a time immemorial, Draukoth was one of the ninety-nine Swords of Vaul, the Eldar Smith God, that were forged for the War God Khaine during the war in heaven. Lost after Khaines triumph, the Fall of the Eldar Empire and the birth of Slaanesh, Draukoth like so many of the Eldars ancient relics, disappeared to the tides of time and the corruption of the Eye of Terror. It was in the ruins of one such former Eldar world that Valkyura, and Faukan, tracked the blade, lost amid the ruins of the ancient Eldar Civilisation and the mutant horrors that lurked amid its warp scarred crust. As Valkyura clawed through the very fabric of reality, Faukan made planetfall with more than a simple retinue. A full Astra Millitarum Battalion accompanied the Inquisitor in search for the dangerous artefact, and as far as human forces go, there are none finer in the Imperium. Valkyura and her small warband had a head start on the Inquisitor, but that was the only advantage they possessed. Pressing forward through the throngs of mutant abominations, Valkyura delved deeper and deeper into the catacombs below the ruins, the forces of the Inquisitor, too assailed by the planets inhabitants, so close behind them that the sounds of their guns could be heard in the distance. Hidden in the lowest vault of the darkest crypt, beneath a myriad of traps, mechanisms and puzzles still operational even after such millennia of disuse, she found her prize. The blade was large, its great sweeping edge gleaming with tantalizing possibility despite the darkness of the cavern and the years uncountable it had lain dormant beneath the ground. No force could stop the slow corruption of chaos forever, and the sword had possessed little protection from such an eventuality. the Blade had become corrupted and tainted first by Slaanesh's birth scream, and later by the slow and insidious corruption of the planet, the very soul of the sword darkening into a horrific parody of the noble Eldar witchblade it had once been. It was everything Valkyura had hoped it would be. As she reached down to touch the ancient sword, a blast of fire and shrapnel thundered across her shoulder as a bolt shell collided with her back, narrowly missing her neck and skull. Her Warp-plate absorbing the brunt of the blow, she spun to face her attacker, snarling in rage and indignation. Faukan stood in the cavern entrance, bolt pistol raised, force sword in hand, his battered, but unrelenting battalion of stormtroopers at his back. The Inquisitor had caught them. With a deafening primal cry Valkyura's kinsmen descended upon the Storm Troopers, claws rending and jaws tearing through the usually resilient carapace armour of the troopers. However, they were badly outnumbered, where Valkyura had a bare four score of kinsmen at her command, Inquisitor Faukan had a whole battalion, many hundreds of men strong and armed with to the teeth with Hellguns. Even the Kinsmens warp fused power armour was little match for the powerful beams of LAS energy that streamed from their foes gunlines. The very planet itself already tainted with the energy of Chaos, Valkyura opened her mind and brought forth her terrible psychic might against the foe, great blasts of dark flame and searing beams of chaos energy tore through the Imperial lines, but soon she was preoccupied with her own battle as Inquisitor Faukan engaged her in single combat. For all her power as a psyker and sorceress, Valkyura had much to be desired in the arts of swordplay, and even with her daemon enhanced physique, struggled against the venerable Inquisitor Lord. It was Jeztabel who cried out within her mind as the pair traded blows, caring for her ward as she had always done, and reminding her of the point of their quest. The Sword. Valkyura let loose with a great sweep of her force axe and pressed Faukan to dodge away, but it was Valkyura who broke off from the combat and with great warp altered strength, leapt to where Draukoth lay, awaiting her grasp. Faukan was swift and skilled however, and gave chase with great urgency, guessing her plan and seeking to thwart it, all the while the two combatants forces raged in battle around them. With a great lunge, Valyura reached for the cursed blade, Faukan mid leap as he sought to cut her off and sever the threat she and the sword posed to the Imperium forever. As he hand curled around the blades hilt, Faukans sword descended, his great force sword seeking to sever the sorceress' head from her body. There was a deafening crack like a bolt of lightning, and Faukan, the stormtroopers and the Kinsmen were flung from Valkyura, the force of the psychic whiplash cracking skulls and rupturing organs. To the Inquisitors credit, his own psychic powers shielded him from the worst of the blasts force, but he was still sent flying several meters by the sheer seismic pressure. As he looked back at the origin of the blast, he half expected to see Valkyura no more, killed by her own hubris and overwhelmed by the swords power. Slain by her own hand. However, he was to be sorely disheartened. Where Valkyura had once lain, she now hovered some ten feet above the ground, her body rigid and trembling, head arched back and arms flexed behind her. Light of purest white shone from within the cracks of her warp-plate, as spinning, soaring stars of energy flew around her. They would occasionally burst forth anew from the sword and plough back into her body with savage force, her body physically reeling with every hit. But she never relinquished her hold of the swords hilt. Never relinquished her hold on Draukoth. Both Valkyura and Faukan had been misinformed and ignorant to the blade's true power. Where Inquisitor Faukan had believed it a chaos sword of abhorrent power, capable of stealing the souls of those it slew, Valkyura had thought it simply the finest witch-blade ever made, forged by the very god of Eldar smithing. They had both been wrong. For true, the blade was a Witch sword of unrivalled perfection, and indeed possessed the ethereal might to sever not just flesh and steel but the soul itself, it was far more than either had known. The sword was forged of the smith god Vaul, his infinite skill and ability and boundless ingenuity had created a blade which was so much more than a simple weapon. Sealed within the blades wraithbone construction, was a highly compacted, and now deeply corrupted Infinity circuit. As the rippling wave of Slaanesh's birth scream ripped through the Eldar empire, billions of souls were instantly ripped from their bodies and consumed by the Dark prince, feeding his insatiable appetite. However, unbeknownst to either She who thirsts or likely the Eldar who guarded the ancient artefact, as those in the swords proximity died, their souls were not consumed by Slaanesh, but rather pulled into the sword, and trapped there for millennia. Alone in the darkness, the then decadent Eldar, sent mad by the fall, and trapped forever in a slowly corrupting prison, had become spirits of such madness and malice, that even to a creature such as Valkyura, the shock was enough to send her mind reeling. Teetering on the brink of losing her own identity, as those Eldar who become their shrines Exarch's do, It was only the discordance of the swords inhabitants and Jeztabels maternal protection that saved her mind from being overcome completely. The thousand souls of the defiled Eldar suffused the very core of Valkyura, their power flooding through her, into the sword and then out and back in again, this was the true power of Draukoth, the potent psychic, warp corrupted essence it contained, and that power flooded into Valkyura like a broken dam. Her already mutated form buckled and writhed, the Aeldari spirits suffusing her lending her a whole new aspect to her mutated form. Her horns receded, and her hair split into a thousand slender writhing snakes, her wings turned to great bony spears, but she no longer required them to fly. In many ways, the power of Draukoth returned her to a semi-human form, that was in many ways, all the more terrifyingly beautiful to behold. The sword clattered to the earth, empty, lifeless and powerless, but Valkyura continued to float, surrounded by an aura of terrible power that shimmered and writhed with barely contained malice. She was more beautiful and terrible than ever, and less human than she had ever been. With a final, zealous cry Faukan charged Valkyura sword raised, pistol extended, breaking the deafening silence, hoping to slay the Dark lady before she finished metabolizing the power. He was far too late. Valkyura gave a feigned wave of her hand and the Inquisitor simply disintegrated, every atom of his being falling free of its cohorts, and his very existence seeming to but turn to dust. Invisible to the psychically stunted eye, his immortal soul was released from its mortal shackles and began to float free, but Valkyura was not finished, for even if the Inquisitor's death had been mercifully brief, she would have all of eternity to torture his soul. Within the swirling eddies of the Warp, the Inquisitor saw, if unconsciously, what had become of Valkyuras soul. Where a candle flame would represent a mortal human, and a psyker a larger beacon, Valkyura had become something far more terrible and dreadful to behold. In the mortal realm, Valkyura seemed to simply reach out and grasp the air before her, but with a tearing screech like metal on metal, her hand tore through reality leaving a hole of dazzling, incomprehensibly coloured light, and pulled back through it a small wisp of bright white light that sparked and smoked unnaturally. She beheld the light for a moment, before her mouth split into a great fang filled maw, far larger than her slender, delicate face should allow. Into this horrific maw she shoved the light, and it disappeared from the universe, and from sight, forever. Those stormtroopers not dead or dying, fell alongside the Hellkin in supplication to Valkyura Warpschild, their new mistress, their new messiah, their new GODDESS... Ezmydiel Pyre Leading her now bolstered chaos forces, and armed with her new prize Draukoth, Valkyura returned to the Eye of Terror to recuperate and explore the new capabilities of her body and mind. However, her quest for Draukoth had been long and unsubtle, and many had heard of her mission, among them, a few knew she had succeeded. Jealousy is a common trait of the Chaos Space marines, and many saw her acquisition of such a powerful and rare relic as nothing short of an insult to chaos as a whole, let alone a jab at their personal pride. One such chaos lord was Kibius Sayel, a former Word Bearer who had broken his legion forces away from the Dark Council and their schemes to seek greater personal power, as many dedicated to the dark gods do. He saw Valkyuras acquisition of such a darkly blessed object as nothing short of Heresy, young, "human" and female as she was. Such an affront could not be allowed to exist in his eyes, and he made it his mission to end Valkyuras rising ascension and confiscate her power for a more worthy master, that being himself. Cloaking his ambition and pride in a veil of piety and faith, Kibius amassed his warband and set forth to bring Valkyura's budding force to its knees. However, Valkyura was not without allies, and was well alerted to the encroaching Warlords plan. In this was Valkyura truly trapped, for to flee and escape Kibius's wrath would make her seem weak, and could lead to more assassination attempts in the future, let alone the possibility of her own forces deserting due to lack of faith in her power. She could not let either stand, and would either make Kibius an example, or be slain in the attempt, but she would not go quietly into the Warp. Valkyura made her stand upon the shifting red sands of Iddon V, a world possessed of little solid ground and many warp-infected savage fauna. This location was not chosen without consideration, and Valkyura ensured she allowed herself every possible advantage she could wrangle. She situated herself upon a small plateau, rising out of the shifting sands like a pedestal, standing alone amid the deserts of Iddon, her force of Renegade Storm-Troopers manning makeshift barricades and fortifications of stone and Warp-tainted steel, their deadly hot-shot Lasguns ready to pierce and lance the forces of her opponent. The shifting, loose sands made movement difficult and the use of heavy vehicles and bikes all but impossible. If Kibius was to assail her fortress, he would have to do so on foot, and in the open. It was here she awaited her foe, and while deep in meditation, attempted to barter and bargain reinforcements for her meagre army. However, as the tides of the warp are fickle, so too are the demands of Daemons, and she found none who presented a deal worth taking, or an option worth taking. Their prices high, and their offers ethereal and insubstantial. No, she was to face this fight alone. As Kibius's Flagship, the Regio Ventis, ''entered orbit, Valkyura released a vox message for him to hear, daring the Chaos lord to assail her fortress, and goading him into facing her in single combat. Valkyura now placed Kibius in the same situation she had been in, faced with a choice. If he assaulted her fortress head on, he would no doubt take grievous losses, but to fire upon her from orbit would damage his reputation and standing irreparably. As Valkyura counted the seconds, Kibius mulled over his decision, her challenge obvious, but unfortunately unavoidable. Kibius was left with little choice but to lay siege to her makeshift fortress. The dropships fell like rain, and Valkyuras scouts reported a force of many hundred marines landing, on foot, to assail her fortress. Now the siege could begin in earnest. They struck at nightfall, as Valkyura had suspected they might, and Las-fire and bolter shell lit up the night in a storm of fire. Where her Stormtrooper renegades lightly armoured, their guns were anything but, and the bright beams of light pierced through astartes plate like paper, their vicious volleys slaughtering any who drew close to the barricade walls. From beyond their range however, enemy Havocs wielding heavy weaponry, bombarded her position with missile and Lascannon fire, blasting apart her fortifications and decimating her lightly armoured troopers. As the siege dragged into its third day, the casualties began to mount on both sides. Where Kibius no doubt felt his losses more than Valkyura, it was her ranged protection which was suffering the most under the Word bearers withering bombardment. After the third day, Valkyuras disciples could no longer keep the foe from their lines, and the desperate close quarter fight began in the narrow passages between the steel and stone fortifications, but Valkyura had kept her greatest asset safe within her walls. With a bloodcurdling howl, she let loose her Kinsmen, and the ferocious possessed space marines fell upon the trespassers with a fury only those who have been kept caged and withheld can muster. Of that original force that forced its way into her barricade, none survived, their corpses proudly defaced and displayed on the fortresses walls for Kibius to see. The insult had its desired effect, and Kibius's assault renewed the next day with fresh ferocity and vigour. Las-fire lanced into the charging ranks, and those few that made it past the emplacements found themselves facing the primal fury of the Kinsmen. But Kibius was better armed and armoured than Valkyura could hope to be, and slowly but surely, her Kinsmen were slain, and her Stormtrooper Disciples butchered, till but a skeletal remnant of her army remained. As the sun rose on the Seventh day of the siege, Kibius's victory was all but assured. His forces, though battered, depleted and decimated, now greatly outnumbered Valkyuras own, of which only a handful remained. Valkyura's own personal bodyguard of Kinsmen was all that remained of her possessed, and had been reduced to only seven men strong. Of her Disciples, only a dozen remained, their dauntless bravado and adoration all but crushed by the implacable advance of the Word Bearers. Valkyura had few options left to her, and fewer still she dare take. As the sun rose, the last remnants of her warband manned the barricade, determined to make good their last stand. Valkyura herself stood amongst her men, defiantly glaring out over the red, blood stained and body littered sands at the Astartes force amassing before her. Kibius, a look of smug satisfaction etched on his patrician features, strode at the head of his force, finally daring to face Valkyura in single combat. She vowed he would die for his arrogance. Kibius and his men halted just out of fire range and hailed Valkyura on a Vox network, though Valkyura abhorred the notion of having to listen to Kibius gloat, she needed time and a plan, and there was always the chance Kibius would by virtue of pride give it to her. '“Are you prepared to bow down before me and accept my judgement, Witch? You must have known it would come to this eventually.”' '“I knew you would come, I knew we would do battle, and I knew that my fate, as it has always been, lies in the Hands of the Dark gods. However, I also know that you will die this day. And it will be by my hand.”' '“Insolent Wench, you dare speak to me, an Adeptus Astartes this way! I fought the Corpse Emperor and his dogs over ten millennia ago, I have fought, defiled and worshipped the dark gods name for longer than your tiny human mind can comprehend, and you dare challenge me!?”' '“You would be surprised by what my mind can comprehend. Come, that is, if you are not too afraid to face me.”' '“You will die upon this planet, and I will sacrifice your unworthy corpse to the dark gods.”' '“You can try.”' The Fighting was fiercer than any that had preceded it. Valkyuras loyal possessed space marines cutting down a dozen of the word bearers lackeys for every one of them that fell, and fanatical to their goddess, did the Renegade stormtroopers martyr themselves bravely, fighting on through the overwhelming odds. this was surely to be their last battle, and they would die with honour in the eyes of the dark gods and their liege lady. Suddenly, with a blinding, rending flash, reality split. jagged gashes and tears in the fabric of realspace shredded through across the battlefield. Clawed, power armoured fists punched through these holes in the world, and they grasped and grabbed, pulling and dragging their bodies through out of the warp. Space marines in warped and jagged armour stalked from the gaps in the universe and fell upon the Word Bearers in a savage and bestial fury. Warp talons, Raptors, Chaos Terminators clad in baroque armour burst forth fromt he immaterium and lay into the Word Bearers armed with blade, bolt and rending claws. Taken as they were by surprise, Kibius' marines fell in droves, many fleeing off into the wastes, more keen to preserve their own lives than their lords honour. At last, the battle was done. Kibius and his cohort had been routed and slaughtered, their bodies and souls offered up to the dark gods. Only Kibius remained. Valkyura stood in the remains of her army, a scant few Possessed marines, the greatest of their kin. Across from this pitiful force stood the army that had been their salvation. Marines numbering in the hundreds, their armour dark and twisted and their intentions unclear as they stood unmoving. Between these two forces, stood Kibius, alone, but yet armed, unwilling to surrender to what he perceived still as his inferior. Out of this new astartes force, strode a single marine. He was larger than his fellows, Clad in rune encrusted armour and a set of archaic thrusters upon his back that flared quietly with a cool blue flame. His helm was that of a snarling daemon with six eyes, each one burning a cold blue. In his hands he clasped a tall, bladed slaff with a censer ball at its peak from which emenated a fine red smoke. '"Lady Valkyura, my name is Ezmydiel Pyre, and I have come, we have come, to serve you."' Kibius' cries of indignation and blasphemy echoed for far longer than Pyre had spoken, and when they finally died down, Valkyura had no eyes for the defeated Word Bearer. She observed this new warrior, the marine that had saved her cohort from certain destruction. '"You are a sorcerer, are you not, Pyre?"' '"Yes, my lady."' '"Then in my name, annihilate this worm."' '"Not even the sands of time will remember his existence."' '"See it is so."' Kibius rounded upon Pyre, hate burning in his eyes, his daemonblade ready and raised. Pyre strode forward calmly, his flaring hungrily with pulsating waves of fire. He held staff but took no stance as he walked forward. With a sudden whoosh, his body engulfed in flames, his armour igniting in a fierce pale blue flame, that roared and crackled, but did not harm Pyre. Kibius flinched, but charged none-the-less. He swung his possessed blade in a great arc but as the blow struck home the daemonblade seemed to spasm, twisting and writhing, trying to escape from Pyres burning form. As Kibius struggled with his weapon, Pyre calmly reached out and opened a single palm to Kibius. A jet of white hot fire poured forth from the sorcerers palm and in an instant Kibius was consumed in vicious warp-flame, his body burning, the very scream he let forth incinerated and consumed by the voracious flames. While he seemed to burn in agony for a millenia, within but a few moments, the marine was reduced to ashes, his armour disintigrated by the warp-fire, and his flesh, soul and being, wiped existence. Rebuilding of the Cult: With Ezmydiel Pyre and his Cohort of legionnaires by her side, Valkyura swiftly left the site of her battle with the Word Bearer Kibius and made way into the twisting realms of the Warp. Her goal clear, yet her path obscured. Seeking to bolster her forces anew, she left again for the nightmare realms of the Eye of Terror. Only a scant handful of her faithful Kinsmen remained, and while Pyres flock were willing in their supplication to Valkyura and her decree that all who follow her be unified with the warp, the materials required for such bindings were unavailable to her as they travelled. Pyre assured her of his warriors loyalty, but Valyura was suspect of even Ezmydiel himself. Despite her relatively young age compared to most space marines, Jeztabel had told Valkyura of the deceitful and capricious nature of astartes, and that they were oft only out for personal power and glory. Only in Chaos did she truly trust, and thus only once said marines were fused with the fabric of the warp would she truly regard them as allies. Unlike many of her voyages through the warp, Valyura made good time to the eye, and exited the warp upon Styxix, one of the many myriad worlds of industry and worship within the eye. Having claimed the Dark apostle Kibius' flagship, the ''Regio Ventis, she possessed the Word bearers stores of supplies and slaves, and so had some bargaining chips with which to barter for troops and materials. Firstly, she needed to be assured of the Men under her commands loyalty, and dedication to her and to the Gods, and so it was with haste that she acquired the necessary reagents and preparations to perform the binding of her still mortal followers. Pyre and his own psychic powers assisted Valkyura with her incantations and rites, leading those who had followed him into service into the ceremonial room. The screams echoed throughout the Regio Ventis, but on a chaos vessel, that is hardly out of the ordinary. The whole process took weeks to perform, binding each and every legionnaire to a daemon of the Warp, and such a process did not go unobserved by those with the gifts to see the signs. As the ceremonies and rites came to a close, Valkyura was approached by an individual, for whom the forges and foundries of Styxix had exhausted their ability to entertain. The individual was a Priest of the Dark Mechanicus, a lord of forbidden sciences and arcane engineering, who approached Valkyura as somewhat of a kindred spirit. The Priests name was Helwright Kel Marduz, and in Valkyura he saw the chance to expand and grow upon his extent of tainted knowledge, and the chance to test his nightmarish inventions. Mardus had simple terms, If The Dark lady would supply him with material, souls and sorcerous means, he would provide her with abominable machines and helforged weapons, an arsenal to match her possessed followers. All he asked for in return was the freedom to experiment and forge as he saw fit, and have his creations tested and used in battle to provide him with data. It was an easy deal, and soon Marduz was hard at work preparing daemonic chassis and glyphs of possession with which to bolster Valkuras forces, her army now growing at a steady pace. She now possessed her elite guard, her Hellkin, once again, commanded by her advisor and Sorceror, Pyre, but hers was not a war for self-aggrandisement or personal glory. It was a crusade to bring the light of chaos to the Imperiums masses, and she had much work to do. A War of Faith: Valkura and her loyal hellkin cut a cancerous swathe across the stars, her touch like an infection, spreading doubt, then rebellion, then heresy like a rampant disease. Each world touched by her seductive reach was thrown into a spasm of civil war, like wildfire her cults infected all strata of society, crumbling governments, turning militaries upon themselves and setting whole populations into maddened revolt. The Dark Lady, a name first whispered, then proclaimed, then screamed by billions of voices as her forces swelled under the influx of mortal followers, eager to earn the Dark ladies favor, and earn power within the service of chaos. Her fleet swelled alongside her forces, pirate fleets, captured merchantmen and even other Chaos warbands joining her banner with the allure of power and ascension. It was then, that the call to arms was sounded. A message spread far and wide, heard by all those for whom it was intended. Abbadon, Lord of the Black Legion, and self-proclaimed Warmaster of Chaos, was calling his 13th Black Crusade. Valkyura was not one to pander to the Warmasters ego, or serve him wishfully, but there could be no mistaking the power the Dark gods and vested in The Warmaster. He held their support, and so Valkyura would answer his summons, if for no other reason, than that the gods wished him to succeed. The 13th Black Crusade: Valkyura, like so many others, answered Abbadons call, but was well inclined to do as she saw fit, should Abaddon find reason to command her. Though as befits the chosen of the Gods, Abaddon was not so dismissive as to find no use for the Mistress of Slaughter. Her armies of cultists were vast, but not what would be needed to fell the fortress world of Cadia. No, for her the Warmaster had other objectives. Valkyura's proclivity for warp magic and insurrection made her ideal for sowing confusion and disorder in the area of space beyond the Cadin Gate. Supply, garrison and fortress worlds that once battle had commenced, would be instrumental in maintaining Cadia's defensive abilities. Where they could not be destroyed, it was vital they at least be disrupted, sabotaged or otherwise preoccupied in order to halt the flow of supplies and manpower to Cadia, and weaken their defensive strength, when inevitably, Abaddon proclaimed, they broke through. The task was well suited to Valkyura's skills, and gave her great strategic freedom by which to go about her assigned mission. Valkyura fell upon the worlds to Cadias galactic south as a plague of locusts. Those worlds able to be overrun by her cultist warriors were done so, their blight spreading like a disease through poorly defended Agri worlds, under the skin of metropolis hive worlds, and burrowing deep like worms through the hearts of mining worlds. Harder foes to best, such as impenetrable fortress and Garrison worlds, required a more subtle approach. Cults had to be infiltrated, insurrection festered and nurtured, and the taint of chaos slowly coaxed from the immaterium and into the mortal world, till fortresses and bastions became undefendable except by those who embraced Chaos's gifts. Valkyura was determined to player her part well. Her effort was to be rewarded. She sensed it before she was told, an echo passing through the immaterium like wind in a ravine. The shockwave and sound of the Material realm being torn open like pulled skin. Mid-battle, the Daughter of Chaos smiled, the will of the Gods had been done, the Warmaster, had ahieved his task, and now the Galaxy was one more step towards ascension. The Universe had been marred, by the Cicatrix Maladictum. The Indominus Crusade: The resulting chaos of the Galaxy tearing itself in two was enough to bring tears to Valkyuras eyes, so many new souls for chaos, so many new worlds blessed by their energies, and shown the true path, it was beautiful. Her work was not yet done however, and now was the chance to capitalize on a reeling Imperium, and sieze as much ground as possible for the forces of chaos. Valkyura and her armies swept down the souther edge of the Cicatrix maladictum, assaulting worlds already under siege by the forces of chaos and daemons alike, pulling at the fabric of reality and trying to peel back further lightyears of realspace to envelope yet more in the baleful light of the immaterium. However, the spree of destruction would soon be cut short. Primarch Roboute Guilliman of the Ultramarines, recently awoken from his mellenia of deathly sleep, had marshaled his new, Primaris astartes, and with forces unseen since the bygone era of the Great crusade, began pushing back the forces of Chaos. Against such foes, Valkyuras Cultist followers were unable to mount any serious resistance and were invariably forced back by the Grey Shield legions. Unable to mount any kind of meaningful resistance against the Primarchs forces, She retreated back to the warp, taking her hordes with her. This was not her battle, and she would have to consult the gods on the time and place to make her return. The northern side of the Imperium was cut off from Terra, and Warp travel for the Imperium all but nullified, there she could fester her cultists, and turn worlds against the imperium beyond the light of the Astronimican, there she would do the Gods work, and fight in her own manner, against the hated imperials, and their Corpse God Emperor. Abilities and Equipment: * Psychic Power: Valkyura is a gifted psyker in the arts of daemonology and summoning, able to communicate with and call forth vast swathes of daemonic servants to do her bidding. While her offensive capabilities are limited with her powers, her ability to call forth and direct pure warp energy allows to her channel a very powerful, if inaccurate weapon of destruction. * Jeztabel: The Daemonic entity known as Jeztabel who inhabits Valkyuras mind and body in a symbiotic relationship empowers Valkyura with a large array of abilities and powers. By allowing Jeztabel to be expressed upon her body, her physical form can shift and change in a similar manner to a possessed space marine. The primary benefit of this is it allows Valkyura to grow large bat like wings by which she can soar across the battlefield, spreading corruption in her swift moving wake. * Warpforged Plate: This aetheric armour was forged from the raw fabric of chaos by the Daemon Smiths of the Forge of Souls, and as a result, is nigh on impervious to mortal damage. This second skin is as much a living part of Valkyura as any other, and it is capable of not only repairing itself but repairing any damage done to Valkyura. Even blows that would shatter the thickest of armour can be turned away by its malefic energies, keeping the Mistress of Slaughter safe from even the most grievious harm. * ''Draukoth, the Fallen Blade: ''This deeply corrupted and befouled Eldar Witch-blade, fallen far from its noble begginings as one of the Hundred swords the Eldar God Vaul forged for Khaine, the Eldar god of war. From such mighty heritage, the blade has only swelled in power since absorbing not only the souls of many thousand Eldar during the Fall, but the corrupting influence of chaos. Ten thousand years of madness and darkness have resulted in a sword so malefic and hateful, that for a mortal mind un-unified with a powerful daemonic entity, would be wholly consumed by the Blades wicked hate, and driven beyond madness. The Hellkin: As Valkyuras forces stand at the turn of the Millenium, her army consists of numerous Marines, both possessed with warp creatures and without, though Valkyura only truly counts those Marines who have invited chaos into their very being as true "Kinsmen". The Fratres Verum: The Fratres Verum form the core of Valkyuras warband, acting as her generals, commanders and trusted confidants. Ezmydiel Pyre, The Eye of the Dark Lady: Pyre stands apart from his fellow Fratres Verum as the only one who was not possessed by the hand of Valkyura herself. Pyre had long contained within his sorcerous mind the raging spirit of an Exalted flamer of Tzeentch. Pyre possessed the gifts of Pyroclasm before his union with this unholy spirit of flame, but after it, his mastery was unrivalled. Pyres armour, like many possessed, is sealed and fused to his being, but in Pyres case, this seal not a by-product, but the purposeful force of his mutation. Pyres body has long since burned away to ash, but within his armour sits the burning spectre of a man which is all that remains. The fusion of the Exalted Flamer, Shevamar, and Pyres own consciousness, it is this ghost of fire and light that possesses the armour of the sorcerer Pyre. the slits in Pyres helm and the maws upon his palms are the only exits of this suit and it is through them Pyre projects his pyroclastic power. Able to incinerate whole squads of power armoured marines with but a wave of his hand, Pyre possesses the power to destroy much more than simple marines with his destructive warp flames. By gathering together his psychic might and harnessing as much power from the warp as possible, he is capable of letting loose from his body a burst of fire that can scour whole battlefields of life, leaving nought but smoking ruin. However, such an act is a dangerous one, for if he is unable to control this power within himself, he will literally combust from within in a shower of burning ceramite, and should he expend too much of his power in this destructive ritual, the very flame of his soul may be extinquished to fuel the blaze. Kel Marduz, Hand of the Dark Lady As Valkyura continued to gather warriors and armies around her, it became clear that while her hordes of loyal and zealous warriors would crush and overrun any army sent against her, if she were to take fortresses and strongholds, she would require heavy arms and armour. Thus was her accord with the mad Warsmith Kel Marduz struck. Marduz, a Helwright more concerned with the mad experimentation and engineering ever more destructive machines of war than the political machinations of his dark mechanicus brethren, sought a patron more aligned to his whims. Valkyura more than gladly took aboard the Helwright and his small contingent of priests, bolstering her own forces with a cadre of dedicated forgemasters. It did not take much for Valkyura to win over the deranged Priest, a simple agreement that he could do as he wished to the war machines of the Hellkin, as long as he kept them in functional order, and built new monstrous machines for her many crusades. Marduz gained that which he desired, free reign to construct and build as he saw fit, without the need for political and militaristic scheming, and a vast supply of labour, daemonic and otherwise. Valkyura too gained what she desired. As the first of Marduz’s creations rolled out to war, they did so with the bellowing mechanical roar of chained and bound daemons in mechanical iron shells. Their hulls adorned in sigils of blessing, destruction and binding, they serve their purpose well, tearing down the bastions of Valkyuras foes, and hastening her elite soldiers to the frontlines. Marduz often riding to war alongside them, repairing his damned creations with mechadendrites and dark pacts alike, their hulls reforming and engines roaring with ever louder growls of hate, as guns open fire with ever greater ferocity and power. Tarvus Giddeon, Blade of the Dark Lady Bloody handed champion and last surviving member of the original Hellkin possessed, Giddeon is a massive warrior, even by possessed astartes standards, towering over Valkyuras other lieutenants and advisers. Giddeons old heraldry has long since been defaced and expunged, and the quiet giant never speaks of his origins, or from which legion or chapter he originated. However, his coal black skin and burning eyes suggest a link to the illustrious Salamanders Legion, or one of their un-acknowledged successors, but this has never been confirmed or denied. In battle, Giddeon serves as Valkyuras executioner, seeking out those who would defy the Dark Lady’s will and challenge them in single combat, his bleak, black sword “Misery” striking with such malice that it scars the very souls of his foes with its vile touch. Even mighty warriors and armoured behemoths will find their very life and will to fight sapped by even the slightest wounds of the daemonic blade. Outside of battle, he is a constant presence, looming behind Valkyura as an implacable bodyguard, defending her from threats both physical, and ethereal. Ferum Temerata, Will of the Dark Lady The Renegade Knight known as Ferum Temerata has followed Valkyrura on her manifold Crusades though the Warp for centuries, its Knight pilot, Kassurius Vetra Mandus Corzoda, following Valkyura with the Zeal of a fervent vassal. Quite what has bound Kassurius’s fealty to the Dark Lady is uncertain. It is rumoured that he is the last survivor of the Knight House Ophrobis that defended the Forge world Polomius Secundus, which Valkura sacrificed to the Forge of Souls in return for her armours construction. However, this would not gel well with the path of events that followed the worlds corruption, as Kassurius was not present for her quest to obtain Draukoth or her schism with the Word Bearers Dark Apostle Kibius Sayel. An alternate theory, is that he indeed was a member of House Ophrobis that escaped or survived the battle for Polomius, and swore an oath of vengeance to track her down. Hunting Valkyura down across the stars, it is possible that he spent so long, and sank so low into his hatred, bitterness and obsession, that he became that which he had swore to never become. A Renegade Knight. So depraved and mad did Kassurius become, that when he finally found Valkyura, she easily seduced his obsession with her, and twisted him to her service. For whatever reason Kassurius bent knee to the Crimson Daughter, he has served her loyally, and fanatically, ever since. When he first came into her service, his knight was battered and damaged from his crusade across the stars and warp to find her, and barely serviceable for battle. This was soon rectified. Helwright Kel Marduz enacted upon the damaged Knight the full attentions of his fell inspiration, and crafted a weapon of war fit for the Dark Lady, his Knight Crusader armaments rebuilt with the wicked intellect of a mad genius. The Avenger Gatling Cannon rebuilt and fuelled with cursed shells and screaming deamonic spirits. The Carapace armament, long having since been damaged beyond repair, replaced with a Twin Icarus autocannon array so as to punch enemy flyers from the sky with daemon-possessed-cogitator calculated fire. Finally, the Rapid Fire battle cannon was scrapped in favour of more volatile weaponry. A massive ectoplasma cannon, custom built to Marduz own designs, was fitted to the Knights left arm. The Cannons volatile, warp tainted Plasma designed to reduce even the heaviest of armour to slag, and ensure that those souls wrenched from their bodies by the deadly plasma, were doomed to torment in the sea of souls. Ferum Temerata was ready for war once more, but no longer would it fly the banners of House Ophrobis and the Imperium, now, it marches under the banner of chaos, and Valkyura Warpschild, his Dark Lady. The Hellkin: The Hellkin form the elite core of Valkyuras army, Space marines all from varied and vast backgrounds, some are renegades from Loyalist Space marine Chapters, others are deserters from other Chaos Warbands, Some are Veterans of the long war so old that they strode beside gods and kings during the Horus Heresy and the Great Crusade. Others still are converts, Marines captured by Valkyuras forces and corrupted by the dark powers of chaos. Their faith shredded and their sanity shattered, they have been shown the raw truth of Chaos through Valkyuras eyes and have given themselves to its will. The Hellkin of Valkyura are warriors all, and all are blessed with a Dark passenger of the Dark gods. for many the Daemon within them is little more than a companion for strength and will, the beings own ferocity, knowledge and power enhancing its hosts own. For others, the possession is less of a host and passenger, and more a dark meld of daemon and mortal, such that is Valkyura. The flesh will warp and change, the soul will meld with that of the Daemonic entity and become something neither mortal nor Daemon, but will the powers and abilities of both. These are the Hellkin, the children of the Gods and the warriors of their Dark Mistress, and in hers, and the Dark Gods name, they will cleanse the Galexy, of those who do not believe in the divinity of Chaos. The Faithful: While Valkyura is no longer human, or even mortal, by most standards, she began life as a humble child upon a backwater Imperial world. These beginnings made her early days in service to the Dark gods difficult, but are now one of her greatest boons. This past is part of the chronicle of Valkyura, her path to ascension, and these chronicles are told over and over by her Hellkin and warriors to any and all that will listen. To many Chaos Space Marines, this makes her appear frail, weak, a mere human, but to the throngs of Imperial citizens, to the Imperial guard, the traitor regiments and the cults of Chaos across the Galaxy, this makes her an Idol. She is the living proof of the power the Dark Gods can bestow upon those who serve them, and her skill with the Malefic arts calls many daemons of the warp to her side, aiding her in her wars. This gives, to the simple onlooker, to the unenlightened masses, them the idea that it is Valkyura who commands these unearthly beings, that she is a vessel of the Dark gods will, and even a saint or Deity in her own right. Valkyura makes no such claims herself, such would be to diminish and belittle the gods she loyally serves, but she does not dissuade such rhetoric and rumour. It is a potent tool, and one that has seen countless billions flock to her banner, their numbers without counting, their ferocity and devotion unmatched. Where space marines may crush humans with contemptuous ease, it is through sheer weight of numbers and blind faith that Valkyuras faithful defeat her foes, crushing them under an unending tide of bodies, for the Glory of the Dark Gods. Notable Quotes Feel free to add your own. By: About: Category:Characters Category:Chaos Category:Chaos Characters Category:Daemons